Updated May 24, 2026
The DA’s case against pop singer D4vd paints a picture of an adult man whose sexual relationship with an underage girl devolved into a heinous plot to get rid of her for good.
As alleged in filings by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office against David Anthony Burke, stage name D4vd, the defendant’s obsession with deceased teen Celeste Rivas Hernandez began when she was only eleven years old.
A tribute to Celeste (Facebook)
According to the DA, D4vd began having sex with Celeste in 2023, when she was thirteen and he was eighteen.
Even after Celeste’s family reported her missing in 2024, and police came to D4vd’s house in the Hollywood Hills, looking for Celeste, D4vd allegedly continued to pursue her.
D4vd allegedly drove to Celeste’s hometown of Lake Elsinore, east of Los Angeles, and paid a junior high school classmate of Celeste’s to give her a cell phone so they could stay in touch.
Throughout the balance of 2024, according to the DA, D4vd continued to have a sexual relationship with Celeste.
Livestream of D4vd accompanied by Celeste
Celeste allegedly accompanied D4vd to Las Vegas and London as he pursued his burgeoning pop music career, and he took Celeste to meet his family in Texas.
Text messages traded between D4vd and Celeste allegedly revealed them discussing subjects such as sex, birth control, pregnancy, and abortion.
Image from the D4vd song “One More Dance” (YouTube)
Meanwhile, some of D4vd’s music videos revealed a fascination with sexualized violence.
The DA alleges that Celeste and D4vd broke up in late 2024 but continued to have a sexual relationship.
A song call “Celeste” that D4vd recorded contained lyrics such as: “Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes, I hear her voice each time I take a breath, I’m obsessed, Oh, Celeste.”
In 2025, as D4vd’s music career continued to soar, Celeste allegedly became jealous of his involvement with other women and threatened to expose their illicit relationship.
According to the DA, on the evening of April 22, 2025, Celeste and D4vd had a bitter argument by cell phone.
The next night, D4vd allegedly sent an Uber to pick up Celeste from her home in Lake Elsinore. The DA says that after the Uber dropped off Celeste at D4vd’s house in the Hollywood Hills, he stabbed her multiple times.
The Hollywood Hills neighborhood where D4vd lived (Doug Kari)
Afterwards, D4vd allegedly drove to Santa Barbara County to dump evidence while sending “Where are you?” text messages to Celeste in an attempt to cover his tracks.
An image of D4vd from “One More Dance”
Following the murder, D4vd allegedly ordered chainsaws, an inflatable pool to use when cutting up Celeste’s body, and items such as a body bag to use in disposing of her corpse.
But instead of taking Celeste’s body to a remote location, D4vd allegedly stuffed her dismembered remains into the front trunk of his Tesla and parked the car on a street in the Hollywood Hills.
The tow yard where Celeste’s remains were discovered (Doug Kari)
When D4vd left town to go on tour, the Tesla was hauled to a tow yard in Hollywood where a worker noticed a foul smell emanating from the trunk.
D4vd’s Tesla being searched by LAPD officials (KTLA)
LAPD officers arrived at the scene, opened the trunk, and found Celeste’s badly decomposed remains.
Officers arriving at D4vd’s house to arrest him (LAPD)
Following months of investigation, the DA filed murder and sex crimes charges against D4vd. He’s currently being held without bail awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles (Doug Kari)
